Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distance detection apparatus, and more particularly to distance detection method and apparatus suitable for a photographing device such as a still camera or a video camera.
Various distance detection apparatus which automatically detect a distance to an object for controlling a focus adjusting unit of an imaging lens have been proposed.
For example, in the apparatus disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 627,488 distance measurement information is time-serially and repeatedly detected and stored, and one of the distance measurement information is selected by a combination of newly detected distance measurement information and stored past distance measurement information. Since this method uses many instances of past distance measurement information, the more the past information is used, the higher is stability of the image in detecting an in-focus state but the longer is the time to obtain the final information which. As a result, the response is slow and the apparatus cannot follow a rapid change in the distance to an object.